State of Mind in the Absence of Citta Vithi – Bhavanga

September 23, 2018

1. We have what we can call “an active mind” in the following two cases:

When we are experiencing sense inputs (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching), especially when those are of sufficient interest. In these cases pancadvāra citta vithi with 17 citta results, as we discussed in the post, “Amazingly Fast Time Evolution of a Thought (Citta)“.

We also generate “active thoughts” when we are remembering a past event, contemplating on a Dhamma concept or learning some subject like mathematics. Here we have manōdvāra citta vithi which can have 10-12 citta normally, but in some special cases may have large numbers of manōdvāracitta running continuously.

Bhavanga – State of Mind

2. On the other hand, there are many times where we just have some kind of “mindset” (joyful, sad, angry, etc.), without even generating thoughts (citta).

For example, many people get into a “state of sorrow” after hearing about the sudden death of a parent, spouse, etc. Even when they are not thinking about that person, they may be just sitting somewhere with very clear features of sadness on their faces.

Sometimes people get very scared and it shows in their faces, but they cannot even think. They are too scared to think or to speak: “frozen in fear”.

Same thing happens when one gets very angry: They may not say anything but we can see the anger in their faces. They themselves may not know what to do.

3. So, there are many such cases where we just get into a certain state of mind, which can be called “a temporary existence or bhava“: the above three examples correspond to “sad bhava“, “scared bhava“, and “angry bhava” respectively.

Such a “temporary bhava” or “temporary state of mind” can last many minutes or even days. These may be denoted by BT, compared to one’s natural bhavanga state, which we can denote by B. After some time the BT state will slowly fade away to fall back to the natural B state.

Active citta vithi may run during such a BT (or B)state, but then they fall back to that BT (or B) state.

This natural bhavanga state (B) is the mindset grasped at the cuti-patisandhi moment; see below.

Connection of “Bhava” to Gati

4. We can see right away that “angry bhava” comes easily to those who are easy to get angry. Such people can be “triggered” easily; just saying some wrong words can make them angry.

Same is true for other types of “temporary bhava“. Some can be easily frightened. Some can be easily tempted with sense pleasures.

The tendency to easily get into such “temporary bhava” will be reduced when one makes progress on the Path. I know that by experience.

When one finally gets to the Arahant stage, one will not get into any “temporary bhava“; one has lost all such gati. One will have what is called “an unshakable calm state of mind”.

Thus, for an Arahant, only the natural bhavanga state (B) will be there until death.

5. An important extension of the idea discussed above is that the bhavanga that we have for “the current human bhava” was grasped at the last cuti-patisandhi moment: When we exhausted the kammic energy for the last bhava that we were in, and grasped this human bhava.

Since a human bhava is grasped with a “good nimitta” that was associated with a “good gati” we had AT THE MOMENT that we did that good deed (or the “good kamma“), our current bhavanga reflects that gati.

However, that “natural bhavanga” (unlike any “temporary bhava“) is hard to see, especially by oneself. It is like we cannot see our own eyes (we can only see a reflection of it by a mirror).

6. But the fact that it is easier for some to grasp concepts than another comes from whether one’s bhavanga is “better” than that other person’s. In other words, one with a tihetuka birth will have a better natural bhavanga (B) compared to one with a dvihetuka birth.

The point is that even if one has a “not so good bhavanga” (which may not be possible to verify anyway), one is better off as a human than uncountable beings in lower realms. We really need to make use of this rare human bhava.

I had written a post about bhavanga sometime back (which describes it from another angle), which you may want to read now to “seal in” your understanding: “Bhava and Bhavanga – Simply Explained!“.

Analogy for Switching from Bhavanga to Active Mind

7. Now we are in a position to see how the mind switches back and forth between bhavanga states (B or BT) and active states (with citta vithi).

However, it is important to note that NO ONE will be actually “see” or “discern for oneself” how this switching happens. Such fast processes can be seen only by the mind of a Buddha.

But we can see for ourselves that these minute descriptions are indeed consistent with our experiences. That is what builds confidence in Buddha Dhamma.

8. Before proceeding further, we need to remember that citta arise in the base of mind (hadaya vatthu) which is located in the mental body (gandhabba).

The gandhabba is totally shielded from the outside by the dense physical body. All sense inputs come through the six “doors” in the body (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and the mana indriya in the brain).

9. I have read the following nice analogy somewhere, but have forgotten where it was. In this analogy, a man is sitting in the middle of a totally enclosed small hut with six windows. He is sitting at a desk in the middle of the hut, but can easily look up and see any of the six windows.

The mental body (gandhabba) trapped inside the physical human body is like the man sitting at the table in the hut.

When the mind is totally focused on the bhavanga state, that is comparable to the man totally absorbed in reading a book sitting at that table. He is not aware of what is happening outside the hut at all.

In the same way, the gandhabba in the bhavanga state has no awareness of what is going on outside the human body. It is focused on the bhavanga (the nimitta grasped at the beginning of this bhava).

10. The man in the hut could be distracted from the book if a disturbance happens at one of the windows. For example, someone could come to a window and knock on it. Then the man would look up from the book at the window where the disturbance was.

This is like a sense signal from one of five physical sense doors coming to one of the five pasāda rupa around the hadaya vatthu. The hadaya vatthu — surrounded by the five pasāda rupa — is like the man sitting in the hut with six windows.

The only difference is that signals for the mana indriya come directly to the hadaya vatthu, instead of coming through a sixth pasāda rupa.

Components of a Citta Vithi

11. When a signal comes to one of the five pasāda rupa, the hadaya vatthu‘s attention to the bhavanga state will be disturbed. Then three citta will rise to break away from the bhavanga state.

Just like it would take the man in the hut a few moments to becomes aware of the disturbance at the window and to look up, it will take those three cittās to pass before the hadaya vatthu “breaks away” from the bhavanga state. Then it will investigate what the disturbance is.

12. Now, hadaya vatthu will look to see which of the five pasāda rupa is disturbed, with another citta. That citta is called the “pancadvāravajjana citta“, where panaca dvara means “five doors” referring to the five physical senses.

If it turns out that the signal is coming through the ghāna pasāda rupa (i.e., a smell), then the mind will turn to that door. Then a ghānadvara citta arises. That will be the fifth citta in the citta vithi.

Now the mind will “accept” that signal; this is called a “sampaticcana citta“.

Then it will fully realize what that signal is with another citta: “santirana citta“.

Up to this point, there have been three bhavanga citta, a pancadvāravajjana citta, a ghānadvara citta (or any one of the five pancadvāra citta), a sampaticcana citta, and a santirana citta; seven cittās in all. All these are vipāka citta.

13. The eighth citta in the citta vithi is called a “vottapana citta“. This is a very important citta, where one’s mind decides to take action based on the sense input that it received.

Depending on the sense input and one’s gati, the mind may decide to ignore the sense input or to take action if gets attracted to the sense input.

Possible actions will include one or more of the following: Thinking along the same lines to oneself/ talking out about it (with vaci sankhāra), and possibly taking bodily actions (with kāya sankhāra).

Two Tadārammana or Bhavanga Citta?

16. If the sense input was a particularly strong one (like a death in family), that is a special case. Then those last two cittās will be tadārammana (T) as shown in #15 above. The sense input is registered in the mind temporarily and “that state of mind” can linger for some time. That time duration can range from a few minutes to several days.

Such a very strong citta vithi is called an atimahantārammana (very strong) citta vithi. The sense event “sinks into the mind” and the mind stays in that state for a while before settling back to the natural bhavanga state.

For example, if one gets frightened by a chasing dog, that agitated and frightened state may last for a many minutes. If a parent or a child dies, the resulting sadness may last for several days.

17. However, if the impact of the sense input is not that strong, but enough for one to think about it, say something, or to take some action, then the 7 javana will still flow. However, it will not register in the mind as a tadārammana (which basically means “a strong thought object”).

In that case, the last two citta will fall back to the natural bhavanga state, B, so now the citta vithi is: “AB BC BU PD CV Sam San V J J J J J J J B B”.

Such a citta vithi is called a mahantārammana (strong) citta vithi.

18. If the sense input is not strong enough to generate an interest in the mind, no javana citta will be generated.

Such citta vithi are called parittārammana(weak) or atiparittārammna (very weak) citta vithi.Parittārammana citta vithi are involved in dreaming. Atiparittārammna citta vithi are involved in breathing. Obviously, we don’t even notice those citta vithi of the last and weakest type.